A high level modeling system (HLMS) is a software tool in which electronic designs can be described, simulated, and translated by machine into a design realization. An HLMS provides a higher level of abstraction for describing an electronic circuit than a hardware description language (HDL) simulation environment such as the ModelSim environment from the Model Technology company. An HLMS generally provides a mathematical representation of signals as compared to standard logic vectors in a hardware description language (HDL). It is desirable for the high-level abstractions to be precisely correlated with the ultimate implementation representation, both in simulation semantics and in implementation. The Xilinx System Generator tool for DSP and the MathWorks' Simulink and MATLAB environments are example HLMS's in which such capabilities are desirable.
An HLMS for electronic circuit design generally offers abstractions that are not available in traditional HDLs. For example, an HLMS is likely to offer abstractions that relate to signal propagation and signal state, while an HDL may support a detailed representation that more closely models a realized electronic circuit. An electronic design modeled in an HLMS may be viewed as a collection of components that communicate through signals. Signals are discrete, time-varying sequences of values. An HLMS generally provides abstractions to support implementing synchronous designs without requiring the specification of explicit references to clocks or clock signals. Instead of providing a detailed, event driven simulation, an HLMS may also provide abstractions wherein clock-synchronous state changes are scheduled to occur at regular intervals and in which there is no notion of the timing characteristics related to the intended implementation as an electronic circuit. In further support of creating high-level designs, an HLMS may also represent state in terms of numerical (or other abstract) values instead of representing state in a detailed format analogous to standard logic vectors.
An HLMS such as Sysgen also has the capability to co-simulate a design. Co-simulation generally refers to dividing a design into portions and simulating the portions on two or more platforms. There are different types of platform on which designs can be co-simulated.
Example co-simulation platforms include both software-based and hardware-based systems. The Modelsim simulator and the NC-SIM simulator from Cadence are example software-based systems, and the Wildcard development platform from Annapolis Microsystems and the Benone development platform from Nallatech are example hardware-based systems. The WildCard and Benone platforms are often used for algorithm exploration and design prototyping. In software-based co-simulations, the user may perform a behavioral simulation or perform simulation using a synthesized and mapped version of the design.
In a hardware-based system, a portion of the design is emulated on a hardware platform that includes a programmable logic device (PLD), such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Co-simulating on a hardware platform may be used to reduce the time required for a simulation run.
The hardware objects created by the present Sysgen system for hardware co-simulation are useful only in the Simulink system. The Simulink system encapsulates the hardware object in a run-time block, and the parameters used by the objects for initialization and operation are specific to the Simulink system. Thus, the hardware objects created by the present Sysgen system are incompatible with co-simulation frameworks other than the Simulink system and incompatible in general with systems other than simulation-based systems.
The present invention addresses one or more of the above issues.